Heineken Cup: Glasgow planning to learn the lessons from past encounters with European champions Toulouse

Glasgow’s Heineken Cup victory in Toulouse in January 2009 may have
represented the high point of their incarnation as a professional side, as
well as being one of the greatest upsets in the history of the tournament,
but coach Sean Lineen has ruled recollections of that triumph off-limits
ahead of another meeting between the two sides at Firhill on Friday evening.

Instead, Lineen has chosen to highlight Glasgow’s 16-22 home loss to the French giants earlier that season as the match from which more important lessons can be taken.

Glasgow dominated the territory and possession figures of that game and actually led 9-7 at half-time, but they were naive when it came to protecting their advantage and they never recovered from the blow of losing two quick tries early in the second half.

“We played some really good rugby in that game, but Toulouse still beat us by three tries to one,” said Lineen. “It was a game we didn’t get a grip of, despite having a really strong team out there. So that’s the message now: the away game was great for us, but we can’t hang on to that.

“We lost at home because Toulouse looked at where we weren’t strong and they exploited that. For us to win this match, every one of our players has to bring his A game, we have to get a bit of luck and we have to perform as a group.”

That last requirement may be the hardest to fulfil, as Glasgow have had precious few opportunities to train together over a week in which the weather has brought Scotland’s central belt to a virtual standstill.

Lineen had made arrangements for his squad to use two large indoor sports halls, but snow and gridlocked roads meant that few of his players were able to get there.

Ahead of a critical match against the reigning European champions, Glasgow have been reduced to training on a couple of tennis courts.

“Training has been a challenge,” Lineen sighed. “We had everything booked and ready for a couple of places, but the roads were just not passable. We’ve had to be creative and make do as best we can.

“We know what we have to do for the game and the mental preparation side of things has gone all right. We’ve been doing things in units and groups, but we haven’t been able to do much at full pace with the whole team.”

Even at this stage, and with a thaw predicted for the next few days, it is still far from certain that the game will go ahead at Firhill as the freezing conditions have made the stadium concourse, pavements and approach roads treacherous.

A Glasgow spokesman explained that the city police have left the decision on whether the match can be played in the hands of the club, but pressure from broadcasters – it is the only live game that can be shown on Friday evening – could mean playing the fixture behind closed doors or moving it to Murrayfield.

Neither option seemed to excite Lineen, whose own train journey to Glasgow from Edinburgh on Wednesday morning took more than four hours.

“We want to play in Glasgow,” said the coach. “Everyone has been working hard to clear the area and the gritters have been at Firhill. When you are hosting the European champions you want it to be on your own ground.”

Understandably, Lineen has chosen his strongest available side for the match. Al Kellock, who missed the first three months of the season while recovering from knee surgery, returns as captain, resuming his second-row partnership with Richie Gray, one of Scotland’s best performers during the recent autumn Test series.

“I wouldn’t say Al is 100 per cent fit yet,” admitted Lineen. “Mentally he is there, but he needs games. It was disappointing for him that last weekend’s game [against Benetton Treviso] was cancelled, but it’s still great to have him back as captain.”

In the continued absence of Chris Cusiter, the one major surprise is the choice of Henry Pyrgos, the former Scotland under-20 scrum-half, ahead of Colin Gregor.

However, Lineen explained that the 21 year-old, a summer signing from Loughborough University, had earned his place on the strength of his recent performances.

Lineen said: “Henry is still just a first-year pro, but we’ve got the injury to Chris, and Colin hasn’t performed as well as he would have liked, so he has been thrust into it instead of easing his way into it. He’s had to front up and he’s done a great job. I’ve been really impressed by him and he’ll just get better and better.”